Film Review: 4th Man Out

With: Evan Todd, Parker Young, Chord Overstreet

15, 86mins

On his 24th birthday Adam comes out as gay to his three very straight best friends, and thus causing upheaval to the comfortable group dynamic. As Adam adjusts to living an openly gay life, his friends struggle to adjust to the news that their best friend is gay and how this might affect or change their friendship.

‘A very funny and beautifully honest film’

4th Man Out beautifully depicts the relationship between men and how they show their affection for one another. This is also what makes the film so funny, because it is so sincere in its portrayal of male friendship. You see at the beginning how open they are with each other. For example, they don’t mind being naked in front of each other, they are physically affectionate and completely comfortable with one another, they make gay jokes and so on. Then when one of them turns out to actually be gay it all changes, his friends don’t know how to act around him or what they can say around him. Adam however, doesn’t want anything to change and for his friends to act any different around him.

All of the cast in the film are wonderful and there are a lot of great characters, especially Adam’s very religious and homophobic neighbour who, after finding out that Adam is gay, thinks that his best friend Chris is his partner and that his other two friends, Nick and Ortu, are gay lovers from the behaviour she witnesses over her fence. For me, the best characters in the film are Nick and Ortu. Chord Overstreet (Nick) and Jon Gabrus (Ortu) provide a lot of the comic relief in the film and especially in scenes that are quite serious and dramatic. It is worth watching the film just for their bromance.

4th Man Out is currently on Netflix and is definitely worth watching. Not the most risky or ground-breaking film about homosexuality, but it is a light-hearted, feel good film that is guaranteed to make you laugh.